Lightning Strikes
by HiroJiyuNaka
Summary: Naruto unleashes a power within him, a power none have seen for millions of years. Now, with many choices ahead of him, the only sure thing is that Lightning will strike, and strike hard. Naruto-inFAMOUS xover, sort of. ON HIATUS!


AN: FUNFUNHAPPYFUNTIME! Bit of a misleading summary, since this isn't a Crossover. Yeah, yeah, I know what I said. This is Naruto world, Naruto characters, Naruto story(more or less… It's a fanfic, leave me alone, lol.), and elements from inFAMOUS(1&2). Hoping to actually get to Wave by the end of the chapter. Like I said, pairings undecided, though probably a small harem, cause I'm a pervert. Very strong Naruto. Schizophrenic Kyuubi, LOL. I'm trying to come up with new names for all of the game attacks(as well as original moves, as always), but there's a couple things I kept the same, simply cause I couldn't see any better thing to call it.

Btw, I'm gonna be lazy, only easily-recognized jutsu are going to be in Japanese, like the fireball, shadow(water/earth) clone, etc.

Sorry Fayneir, this isn't your request. I'm still working on that one, but it's going well, don't worry.

Enjoy~

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I DO, however, own a copy of the game, inFAMOUS. Although, I think some company called Sucker Punch™ owns it more…

~*~HJN~*~

Chapter 1—

Naruto screamed in pain as each cell in his body felt like it was being electrocuted, sliced, burned, frozen, crushed, and a number of other things before regenerating and having the whole process done again. The strange ball must have backfired. Or maybe this was why it was sealed in the first place. It killed the user.

Whatever the reason, he knew it was stupid to try, anyway. Honestly, was there any chance he would have the, apparently random, gene that would make the sphere effective?

Still, there was no other choice the way he saw it. They had surrounded him, and now they were going to get their wish. Never mind the fact that he had his Konoha headband and was a shinobi now, he was Uzumaki Naruto, the son of a demon, and he had to die. That's what they said, anyway.

None of that mattered, though. He felt his consciousness leaving him. His vision was turning black, and his senses were dulling. He was dimly aware of falling to the ground before… nothing. He could hear nothing, see nothing, feel… he could feel something.

A tug, like a string was attached to his forehead, pulling him along. Eventually he came to see something. Red. A red glow, shining as though around a corner. The string was leading him there.

Turning the corner, Naruto saw the source. A giant, red fox was chained to the floor. The fox had three tails swishing lazily behind it. A feeling of dangerous warmth emanated from it. **"So."** It said in a booming, but non-threatening voice, seemingly female. **"I suppose you're wondering, then? Why you're here?"** Naruto nodded. **"I suppose I am, too, in a way. There is another fox in the next room. We were once one, my balance, the Yang to my Yin, but now we are split. It seems all that fills my head now are violent thoughts. Back-handed plans. Destructive ways to an end. Whether that end is villainous or heroic, it doesn't seem to matter. Is this the path you seek? To end your enemies with total destruction? To be able to leave battle in the same condition you entered, the flames burning your comrades behind you? To show the world that yes, you are a demon, and you are pissed? To have vengeance? I warn you, you will lose friends along the way. Do not answer yet. Go to Yang. Hear her offer. I will say no more."** And the fox closed her eyes, and slept.

Naruto felt the tug on his forehead drag him into a side corridor. A blue glow was coming from the other end. Entering the blue room, he saw, just as Yin said, a blue fox with three tails chained to the floor. A feeling of cautious solidity flowed from her. She spoke. **"I see you've been to Yin, then? So you know I am Yang. I know only defensive thoughts. Self-sacrificing tactics. Honorable ways to an end. Whether that end is heroic or villainous, it doesn't seem to matter. Is this the path you seek? To save your friends at your own peril? To end the suffering of many, at the death of one? To show the world that no, you are not a demon, and you forgive them? To have peace? Do not answer yet. For there is another choice. I do not like it, for it means working with Yin, which I imagine she would not enjoy, either. But this is your body. Your potential. Hear the offer from Kinko, Balance. I will say no more."** And the fox closed her eyes, and slept.

Naruto once more felt the tug on his forehead. He went back the way he came, into the side corridor. Then, halfway down, he turned, into another hallway, making a T-shape he never noticed before. At the end of the hallway was a purple glow. Inside the room, was a purple fox with two tails laying freely on the ground. There was a feeling of a world-weary soul pulsing from her. **"You have already been given the power of lightning hidden within you. You have seen the extremes. You have heard the benefits, and understand the consequences. Side with Yin, and fire and destruction will follow in your lightning, tearing down all who oppose you. You will lose friends, and betray many. Side with Yang, and ice and protection will serve you and your lightning, defending those you care for from your enemies. You will make many physical sacrifices, as well as emotional ones, for the good of the people. Either side is easy to follow once chosen, for a hero should always choose Yang, and a villain should always choose Yin. Both sides are equally powerful in their own right. Both sides have equal sacrifices from a neutral standpoint.**

"**You have been told there is another choice, this is true. The choice of both. Offence and defense. Ice and Fire. But this path is paved with even more hardships. Complete balance is difficult to achieve, and will take longer to grow accustomed to. Some of the sacrifices and downsides from both Yin's and Yang's offers will still occur, for reasons I cannot begin to fathom deeper than 'That's just the way things go'. But you will reap **_**all**_** of their benefits. You will become twice as strong as you would taking up one of their offers. Remember, though, it will take even more time, should you follow the middle ground, to reach your full potential.**

**"Naruto, from a neutral standpoint, I would suggest you take up Yang's offer, and be a protector. It fits you well, with your Nindo of 'Never going back on your word'. But, I see much darkness in your heart, too. Much hatred. You may find Yin's direction fitting for vengeance. However, you tend to take hard work as a challenge, and it only pushes you further. I believe that, despite the slower climb, you would enjoy the balance my offer gives you.**

**"You must not choose now. Only when your current power grows to a point where you can claim one of our eight tails must you decide who to take it from. Be warned, you will be making choices sporadically, all depending on your mood at the time until then. Once you take your second tail, your new alignment will begin influencing and helping your actions, dictating the right choices to continue on the path you've chosen."**

Naruto furrowed his brow and cocked his head. "Your eight tails? My second tail? I think I somehow understood the rest of that, but what do you mean with the tails? As far as I know, Kyuubi has nine tails, right? And so wait, I'm not dead, right?" Naruto asked, already having gotten 'The Talk' from the Sandaime Hokage.

Kinko nodded. **"Aye, the Kyuubi did have nine tails, but they were distributed when you set off that Ray Sphere, the one you stole from the Forbidden Scroll of Konoha. Yes, you have the gene, Naruto. You are what the makers and late experts of that device would call a Conduit. Yin got three of Kyuubi's tails, denoting one-third of his power. Yang also got three tails, occupying another third. I received two tails, and you, Naruto. You got the last tail. It will only appear if you want it to, and it will merely be a non-corporeal, rough-estimate representation of your power. And no, you are not dead. Hurry now, though. Someone is trying to kill you in your sleep. I will say no more besides… Good luck."** And Kinko closed her eyes and slept.

~~HJN~~

True to her word, Naruto woke up in a hospital, with a kunai knife over his chest. Reacting, he knocked his attacker's hand away and jumped out of bed. The enemy was covered from head to toe in all black, and had no headband. That kunai was being held awkwardly in front of him, so it was probably a civilian. 'Great. Just my luck. I don't even know what these powers I'm supposed to have can do, yet.'

It seemed his body did. On impulse, he felt within himself and summoned electricity, which felt ever so slightly different than his chakra. Thrusting his arms forward and out, he released the energy, and a wave of ionized air, lined by a ring of yellow lightning, blasted through the room, slamming the man into the wall. Rushing forward, he charged his hand with power and thrust it a few inches away from the dazed man's chest. The yellow lightning arced across his body, before settling at his wrists and ankles, pinning them to the wall.

Naruto stepped back and surveyed his handiwork. The man was thrashing against his bindings, though they didn't seem to hurt him. "That seems useful.. Guess I should start naming things, later."

The man stopped cursing randomly long enough to say something understandable. "Demon! Just because you changed your eyes and learned a few tricks doesn't make you any less of a monster!"

Naruto's eyes widened. "MY EYES CHANGED?" He looked around the room and picked up shiny new bedpan. Using it like a mirror, he took stock of himself. Everything was the same, save for his eyes. The pupils were jagged slits, looking like cartoonish lightning bolts, with three downstrokes and two upstrokes. The irises had turned yellow, like his hair and lightning. Muttering to himself, "I guess that's pretty cool. Gonna be hard to explain this, though. All of it, actually. Hope old man Hokage isn't too curious."

~~HJN~~

Naruto's hopes were dashed, however, as Sarutobi Hiruzen was VERY curious as to how Naruto was found unconscious in a giant crater outside Konoha, and how he managed to pin a man to the wall of a, now clean again, hospital room using electricity of all things! "W-Well… It kinda started the night I got my headband." Hiruzen's eyes widened, that was two weeks ago! "I got something more than the Kage Bunshin from the Forbidden Scroll. There was a storage seal in there, and I thought it was some kind of ultimate sword or something, cause I've always wanted to use a weapon, so I figured out how to open it. All that came out was a metal sphere and a sheet of paper with some drawings and stuff I didn't understand on one side, and a set of instructions on the other. I didn't get to look at it, cause that was when Iruka-sensei showed up, so I shoved it in my pouch. Since then, I've been busy with boring D-rank missions, so last night was the only time I could check it out. The paper recommended a 'secured wide area for use', so I went to one of the training grounds outside the village. It said that I needed some kind of special gene in my body for it to work, so I thought 'No harm in trying, if it doesn't work, it doesn't work!' That was when they showed up. A bunch of civilians and Chuunin must have followed me out of the village, cause I was suddenly surrounded. I did the only thing I could think of, and activated the metal ball. It felt like dying. It felt like dying and coming back and dying again, over and over. Then I blacked out, and when I woke up, a civilian was trying to kill me in the hospital. My body reacted on instinct, and I pushed him to the wall with some kind of… I don't know, it looked like it could be a Raiton jutsu, but it acted like a Fuuton jutsu, blasting him back into the wall. Then I felt another instinctive impulse, and arced lightning over him, pinning him to the wall. I didn't hurt him, I swear! Okay, maybe getting thrown to the wall hurt a little, but he was going to kill me! What else could I do?"

Sarutobi made a placating gesture with his hands. "Calm down, Naruto, you had every right to defend yourself. A civilian assaulting a shinobi under no provocation is a serious offence, and he is being punished right now. I'm afraid I know less about that metal ball than you do, but it survived the blast, and is now back in a, much more difficult, storage seal in the Scroll. Now, that Raiton move that works like a Fuuton, could you do it again?"

Naruto thought for a moment. He could feel the energy in him; visualize it in his mind's eye like he could his chakra. Finally he said, "Yeah, I think so."

The Sandaime Hokage stood from his chair and walked to the door. "Follow me, please."

Naruto got up and walked with the aged man to the top of the Hokage Tower. Hiruzen gestured to a pile of leaves over by the side, about 20 feet away. "Could you hit those from here?"

Naruto nodded, and cocked his right arm back. It seemed natural for him, like this was the stance he was meant to take. 'Okay, blast wave thing. Blast Wave… sounds good to me!' Bringing his hands together, he charged the air between them, containing it with lightning like he did before. Pushing with his arms and his power, the yellow Blast Wave flew through the air and hit the leaves, scattering them everywhere.

Hiruzen gaped. 'There were no handsigns, no chakra spikes, he just did it!' "Naruto… Did you use any chakra for that?"

He shook his head. "No, I can feel my chakra, and my lightning separately. That Blast Wave was pure lightning energy."

The Sandaime nodded numbly. "Well, I think that's enough, then. You've been cleared for duty, so I expect you back here tomorrow with your team for missions, as always."

Naruto popped into an over-drawn salute. "Hai, Hokage-sama!" He relaxed and grinned. "Later, old man!" And he jumped off the side of the building. Locking his arms down, he channeled lightning to his hands, ionizing the air and forcing it down. 'Looks like I can do most anything I can imagine, within reason. Hm, it seems to just push me up into the air a few feet, then slow my descent. Almost like a glide. Glider Arms? No, they are more like thrusters on those hover machines in Kumo I heard about. I guess they're just thrusters, then. That works." Gliding his way to the ground, he quickly got a feel for the use of his newest invention. "Nice. Let's see, what else can I do?" Looking around at the empty street, he saw a trashcan. Cocking his arm up, he let loose a short bolt of lightning. It hit the can and jerked it sideways, sparks arcing across it briefly. "Cool. That didn't take any concentration at all." Continuing his walk home, he kept playing with his lightning, stretching it between his hands, flicking it across his fingers, etc.

Reaching a set of stairs, he looked at the metal rail, and got a devious idea. Jumping up on the metal, he forced lightning to his feet. It seemed to almost read his mind, now, because it did exactly what he wanted it to. The lightning gathered under him, and charged the rail. Pushing forward, he found his speed increasing to about ninja running, gliding across the metal on pure energy. "YA-HOOOO! This is AWESOME!" He continued this way until he hit the end, where he pushed off with electricity, and launched himself 20 feet in the air. Activating his thrusters, he was pushed another five feet up before gliding gently forward. "I could get used to this." Traveling through the air a bit longer, he dropped in front of his apartment building. "Aw, crap. Well, at least it was just a prank, this time."

Arc jumping up to the roof, he looked at all his furniture. The couch, two chairs, coffee table, refrigerator, microwave, television, two lamps, and raised futon were all removed from his apartment below and placed on the roof. "This is going to take forever to get down…" Looking over to the side, he saw a pile of corrugated sheet metal, piping, and lumber. Leftovers from some building project long since forgotten. "Okay. I can make this work. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Twenty copies of the blonde popped into existence around him, and immediately set to work. Three went downstairs into his apartment, looking for extension cables and nails, and the rest started covering the furniture with lean-tos made of sheet metal and pipe, fusing the metal with focused lightning. Naruto himself began putting up a sheet metal and wood fence around his new place to live, leaving holes for him to get through. The three clones came back, and hooked up the TV, fridge, and microwave, then set about building rough cabinets for dry-foods.

When all was said and done, Naruto had a zigzagging maze of sheet metal roof connecting all of his furniture, old and new, and a wood and metal fence partially surrounding the building roof. "The only thing I don't have is a bathroom…" A couple leftover clones popped down into the apartment while Naruto ponders this.

The clones walked into the bathroom of Naruto's small apartment. It isn't much, but it has the essentials. Toilet, sink, shower, mirror. One clone positioned itself just inside the bathroom, the other transformed into a large hammer. The first clone swung the hammer up into the ceiling, smashing a hole to Naruto's new roof-pad. Swinging again, it made the hole bigger and bigger, until it was roughly manhole-sized. Hopping up, it pulled itself through the hole and out onto the roof. "Hi boss! I made you a door to the bathroom!"

Naruto sweatdropped. "I don't think we have the permits for this, but I guess if we're going to get in trouble, go all out! Make a hatch or something to cover the hole, something that can lock from the inside." When the two clones were figuring out how to do that, Naruto took a few more bits of sheet metal and connected a rain cover bridge from the rest of the homemade roofing to the new bathroom entrance.

At last, Naruto was finished with his new home. It wasn't perfect, but it was bigger than his apartment, and felt more… free. He looked around and felt kind of proud. For a 13-year-old kid, he did a pretty good job.

Crashing onto his futon, he went to sleep, trusting the sun to wake him up tomorrow.

~~HJN~~

Naruto ran across the rooftops to his team training grounds. Life seemed to be looking up for him. He didn't get in trouble with the building supervisor, provided he still paid the water and electric bill he was using(he made a note to see if he could power things himself, and just have to pay a water bill.)

Now, though, he would probably have to explain himself to his sensei, deal with Sasuke demanding to be given the same powers as him, and Sakura-chan will probably complain that he's upstaging Sasuke again!

Landing in the clearing, he saw his sensei was there already, and that his whole team was watching him. "Uuuhhh… Hey guys! Am I late?"

Kakashi shook his head. "No Naruto, you're not late. I'd appreciate it if you skipped the jokes about me being here on time, though. You need to tell us what happened. It's our right as your team to know."

Naruto ignored the fact that Kakashi STILL hasn't told them about ANY of his skills, and nodded dutifully. "It started the night of the Academy test." And the story progressed. Naruto noticed Sakura was getting more and more ticked off, but he had only gotten to the assassination attempt. When he spoke about the powers he used, though, Kakashi wanted him to demonstrate. Naruto summoned a clone and chained it's wrists and ankles to the ground with lighting, mentally dubbing the term Arc Restraining. Then he fired a Blast Wave at the treeline, taking out a couple branches, and scattering leaves everywhere. Continuing the story, leaving out the bits about the now split Kyuubi, he demonstrated each power he had discovered in turn, besides the railgrind, which they pretty much gathered for themselves. Finished with his story, he waited for the verdict.

Kakashi cleared his throat. "Well, I think it's apparent that you had no idea what would happen, so nobody can blame you for the deaths."

Naruto blinked. "Deaths? I killed someone? More than one someone?"

Kakashi nodded solemnly. "That blast that nocked you out and gave you your powers killed those civilians and ninja that had surrounded you. They were almost completely incinerated, only a few charred remains were left."

Naruto felt like he had been punched. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't speak, and after a few seconds, he couldn't even stand. He fell to his butt, hunching over, eyes wide and unseeing. "I… I killed them?"

He sat there, a dozen screams filling his head. All the people that died in the blast was screaming out in fear just before they were silenced forever. It was the silence that struck him. It was almost louder than the screaming.

He felt a pair of arms encircle him from the side, and looked up. A head of long pink hair and sad green eyes greeted him. "Naruto, we don't blame you. Not after hearing your life from Kakashi-sensei."

Naruto looked up and raised his eyebrow at Kakashi. "I couldn't watch you all the time, but I did my best to keep you safe when I was on-duty."

Naruto nodded, understanding. Returning Sakura's hug, he thanked her, and stood with the pinkette. "Thanks, guys. If we stopped being a team… Well, I'm glad we still are."

The Jounin eye-smiled. "Well good. Cause we've got a mission. In fact, it's our first C-rank. Meet at the Hokage tower in ten." And he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Sasuke looked over at his two teammates and was about to walk on his own to the tower, when something stopped him. "Oi, dobe. What happened to your eyes?"

Naruto chuckled. "I'm surprised Kakashi-sensei didn't notice. He must be getting slow in his old age. I think it has something to do with my powers, but so far nothing has come of it. Come on, let's go kick that mission's ass!" Turning, he ran for the village, working to get there first.

Sasuke smirked. "You aren't beating ME there!" And he ran off after him, leaving Sakura alone.

She huffed. "Boys. It's times like these, I wish I was a lesbian. … Whoa, where'd THAT come from?" She shook her head of the uncharacteristic, seemingly implanted thoughts, and followed her two teammates."

~~*maniac giggling*~HJN~~

Naruto won, but only just. He had used a rail lining a store sign to get some extra speed going, and launched the rest of the way.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were greeted by their sensei, before walking in together. A short man with a greying beard, apparently drunk, was crashed on the couch. The Hokage greeted them good-naturedly. "Ah, Team 7. Good to see you. This is the client, Tazuna-san. C-rank escort mission to a village in the Land of Waves." Sarutobi handed the scroll to Kakashi, who took and glanced over it before sliding it into his vest.

Tazuna stood, which involved a lot of head movement, and looked at them. Or at least, a spot somewhere to the left of them. "They don't look very strong. Look, one of 'em's already only got one eye! Are you sure they can protect me?"

Kakashi nodded. "Don't worry, Tazuna-san, we are all well trained. No harm will come to you on our journey."

"Pff. Fine. I'll be at the gate, then." And he stumbled out of the room, deftly being able to somehow not spill a drop of his liquor.

Kakashi regarded his team, eyeing Naruto who, while looking quite pissed, had not caused an outburst at the man's insults. "Okay, let's meet at the gate, in say, ten minutes. That should be enough time to get packed. Ja ne!" He said, before walking out the door, pulling an infuriating orange book from his pouch.

~~HJN~~

Naruto ducked under a swipe from one of the brothers' claw. Sasuke had managed to separate them, so at least that chain wasn't a bother, anymore, but there was only so much his offensive bolts could do. They were too heavy for his Blast Wave, only getting buffeted slightly every time he tried. 'AN IDEA WOULD BE NICE RIGHT ABOU NO- ooh, that could work.'

Jumping back, he gathered energy in his hand, and lobbed it at the brother. The ball of lightning arced through the air, and landed next to him. He looked at it, and started shuffling away, but it was too late. The attack exploded, yellow force and lightning bursting outward, throwing the brother to the side, and knocking most of his armor off. He struggled to get up, but found a foot on his back, then a tickling, static-y sensation spread over him before his hands and feet were trapped to the ground, a quiet crackling sound emanating from the four limbs.

"Arc Restraint complete. Sasuke, I'm coming!" Naruto rushed over to his teammate, firing bolts as he goes. Sasuke was already engaged in a taijutsu match with the man, and Naruto joined him, charging his hands and feet with electricity to give his hits a little more oomph. Finally, wearing him down, Sasuke was about to deliver the final blow when the man shoved them both away with a wide swipe, cutting Naruto's arm in the process.

When out of nowhere, the recently-dead Kakashi appeared, the man's snapped neck cradled in his arm. "Good job, team. These ninja were obviously after the bridge-builder, and you picked up on that right away. Sakura, that was an excellent defensive throw you delivered the small one, though your stance was wide, clean that up. Sasuke, you survived quite well against the large one for as long as you did, and you even got a few deep cuts on him, nice work. Naruto, that was some quick thinking with that lightning spark bomb, and good call on capture, instead of kill, it will be much easier to get information out of him, now. Take a rest, I'm going to see what out new friend here has to say about attacking us." Dropping the dead man to the ground, he walked over and grabbed the live one by the hair, rubbing his face into the ground and calmly asking questions, leaving his team to figure out themselves how he escaped the death chain.

~~HJN~~

The shirtless man, Zabuza, STILL had Kakashi in that damned ball, and he had to run out of air sometime. Naruto's mind raced, there MUST be some way to get him out of there, but Zabuza just kept spamming water clones, no matter how many times he destroyed them with lightning. Sasuke was thinking, as well, that much was apparent. He hadn't blinked in over four minutes, a sure sign that the Uchiha's cognitive abilities were being stressed. Sakura was furtively protecting Tazuna, after finding out that Gatou had hired Zabuza to kill the bridge-builder.

He can't just fire at the ball, that would hurt Kakashi, too. 'If only we could get around to the real Zabuza..' "SASUKE!"

Seeing his friend glance at him was all he needed to continue. "Get ready to fly!" And he dashed behind him, charged a Blast Wave, and launched.

Sasuke flew through the air, passing over the Mizu Bunshin, which was being destroyed again by Naruto. His flight had one clear objective: Momoichi Zabuza. Pulling out a kunai, he drove it into the man's chest, piercing his lung, and canceling the Water Prison Kakashi was in. Landing, he jumped back to get out of the way of his sensei, who seemed quite pissed now, his Sharingan was spinning wildly.

A short Taijutsu fight later, and Kakashi was firing a Water Screaming Vortex Jutsu at the Swordsman of the Mist. Naruto got an extremely good idea, and fired a few bolts at the water, electrifying it, further increasing the damage it did to the cow-pattern-loving Shinobi.

Zabuza, pinned against a tree with kunai, started choking on the senbon needles that were suddenly lodged in his neck.

A Kirigakure Hunter-ninja jumped down from the trees, and brushed herself off. "Thank you for doing most of my job for me. I have been tracking this man for weeks, but I'm afraid I'm not much good in a fight. I'll just take him, now."

Kakashi nodded, and stepped back for her. Allowing her to take Zabuza, he smiled at his team, and collapsed.

~~HJN~~

Naruto sighed. "Man, Kakashi-sensei is heavy. Why did I have to carry him, again?"

Sasuke spoke from his bowl of soup. "Because I don't have your obscene body strength."

"Heh, damn right you don't. Psst, Sakura-chan. What's obscene mean?"

Sakura laughed, Sasuke joining in, slightly. "Nothing Naruto, it's a compliment coming from him!"

Naruto huffed, but kept smiling.

They were sitting in the living room of Tazuna's house, enjoying a warm meal from his daughter, Tsunami.

"You know, you're all going to die." The three looked over at Inari, Tazuna's grandson. Tazuna himself simply glanced out of the corner of his eye, and kept drinking. "You can't fight Gatou, no matter how much you believe you can, or train! He just keeps coming back with more thugs, and you can't beat them! And you all sit here, laughing while the strongest one of you is out cold! You don't know this country, this village, so why are you fighting for us? Because grandpa asked you to? People have tried to go against Gatou before, and they've all died! You'll be killed, too, so just give up and go back to your happy, safe ninja village!"

"Shut up, brat." Everyone looked at Naruto, surprised. His head was down, eyes shadowed. "This is the second time you've insulted what we're doing here. You think I'm doing this for your grandpa? I've completed my mission given to me by my superiors; I could leave any time I like. I'm staying, because it's the right thing to do. Just because there's no chance of something happening, does that stop you from trying, or hoping? You think you've got the right to complain, with your pseudo-dad executed? When life fucks with you, you don't sit there and cry, dammit!" He slammed his fist on the table for emphasis. "You fucking stand up and fight for yourself! This village is trapped in an alley, with Gatou and his thugs looming over it. If the village is going to try and climb up a wall with that bridge out there, then I'm going to pick up a pipe, and take care of the thugs while they do that!" Finally, he looked at Inari, his yellow eyes flashing, lightning bolt pupil vibrating and pulsing. "And no crybaby is going to tell me not to help!"

Inari's tears flowed freely from the boy's words, and he ran upstairs to his room.

Naruto stood from the table. "I'm going out to train." Turning, he walked out the door, into the night air.

Tazuna quirked an eyebrow. "How did he get so passionate about this kind of thing?"

Sakura set down her spoon, and wiped her mouth before speaking. "I don't pretend to know the whole story, but from what I understand, Naruto's gone through what this whole village is going through, but on a worse, more _personal_ level. When he was four or something, he was kicked out of the orphanage, and didn't get an apartment until the leader of our village found out he was living in a dumpster. So from 10 years old, he's been in that run-down _craphole_, trying to scrape by." She paused, wiping a tear from her eye before continuing, her voice remaining strong.

"As a kid, he was bullied, picked on, and ostracized, for reasons he didn't even _know_, and probably the other kids didn't know either. It's the older generation's fault, really. They all remember something very bad that happened concerning him, and tell their kids to either stay away, or _hurt_ him. But the _birthdays_ are the worst. Every year on his birthday, we have this celebration for the sacrifice of our Fourth Hokage, who saved our village from the evil Kyuubi no Kitsune. Naruto never goes. It would only make things worse. See, Naruto was born the day of the Kyuubi attack. Because of this, among other circumstances I'm sure he'd rather tell you himself, some of the villagers and older ninja all get drunk and go on a _hunt_. Their prey is the ever-_infamous_ Uzumaki Naruto. A _hero_ to the village before he could even_ walk_, and they want him dead." Her voice cracked on the last word, and she could say no more, so Sasuke picked the story up.

"No one would let him enter stores, or restaurants, and those who did severely overcharged him for the most _basic_ of needs. If you asked him, he'd tell you that orange is his least-favorite color, and that he'd much prefer a dark purple, but that's the only set of working clothes he's got. Ramen really is his favorite food, but that's not why he eats it every day. It's cause that's the only restaurant that doesn't overcharge him or flatly kick him out. In the Ninja Academy, Naruto's education was sabotaged. He saw this, though, and simply stopped trying, causing him to fail the Genin test three times, where the rest of us had failed only the first or second time, due to inexperience. That was the only time I've _ever_ seen him give up, and even then he still was so _determined_ to become a shinobi, that he made it in the end, anyway.

"And yet, through all of this. All of the beatings, the taunting, the failure, he still smiled. He never cried about anything. He fell sad, oh yes, depressed. Felt downtrodden. Got angry. But he still smiled, and forgave, and helped, and _lived._ He really lived, more than most people. He laughed, he joked, he trained, he _loved._ He has such a capacity to love, it's not even funny. He loves his team, he loves the Hokage, he loves his teacher, he even loves the goddamn village that wants him dead, because he knows that they just don't understand all the facts. That's why he finds it so hard to accept people just sitting there and taking any kind of abuse. He doesn't _comprehend_ it. He assumes that, since no one could _possibly _refrain from striking back at an abuser willingly, then they must either not be able to, or they don't know how to. So he helps them. 'If an old lady can't cross the street on her own, you help her, right? Why can't I extend that to everyone who deserves it?' That's what he says." Sasuke paused for Sakura to calm herself down. "So that's how it is. Naruto just wants everyone to be happy who deserves to be happy, and those who don't will face his anger."

Tazuna looked to the door that the blonde had left through. "It's hard to see that kid having enough anger to throw around, but I guess with his childhood, it's really more surprising to see all of the happiness he gives out…"

~*~HJN~*~

This was a short chapter in pages, but longer than my usual in words. WHAT THE FUCK, MAN? Oh well. I SUCCEEDED IN MY QUEST! I am at Wave with this shit, and now that I am here, I will be able to get past it in my other stories, I PROMISE! I know, UCOTL and Animalistic are way behind in that regard, but they WILL get there soon. Sorry about those walls of text at the end, but I just started getting so into it that I couldn't stop!

I'm sure you're all excited to hear about Haku and Naruto's interaction, but it'll just have to wait until the next chapter.

Just some things I wanted to touch on, cause I know people are going to be forgetting often. I know I have been, and I WROTE the damn thing…

Naruto's lighting is YELLOW right now.

He has the equivalent of one Kyuubi tail of power in lightning, but has still not taken advantage of this, yet. His chakra is still enormous.

His irises are yellow, with black lightning bolt pupils.

He has the following powers discovered, they look like from this game, and they are named thusly:

Standard Alpha Bolt (looks like 2) [L1+R1] "bolts"

Standard Shockwave (looks like 2) [L1+X] "Blast Wave"

Standard Blast Grenade (looks like 2) [L1+SQUARE] "Spark Bomb"

Enhanced Static Thrusters (from 2) [R1] "thrusters"

Car Jump (from 2) [on a car+X] "Arc jumping" {Naruto can use this on any conductive surface. Meaning not dirt or concrete, etc.}

Arc Restraint (looks like 1) [on downed person: R1+O] "Arc Restraint"

Electric Fighting (from 1) [melee; SQUARE] "lighting taijutsu"

Electric Grindrailing (looks like 2) "grinding"

Ja ne~


End file.
